Advances in MEMS, NEMS, Microsystems, Nanosystems, Photonics, 3-D integration, heterogeneous integration, and Nanotechnology devices and structures promise to revolutionize defense and industrial products by bringing together the computational capability of micro- and nanoelectronics with the perception and control capabilities of micro- and nano-sensors and micro- and nano-actuators, thereby enabling smart systems-on-a-chip to be mass-produced. The use of smart systems that can actively and autonomously sense and control their environments has far reaching implications for a tremendous number of future commercial and industrial applications, and promises significant benefits for the United States economy and its citizens.
In many of the applications using these technologies, there is a need to extract the ultimate performance levels from the components used in systems. High-performance devices demand high-precision manufacturing, which is obtained in macroscale-sized mechanical or electromechanical devices using extremely accurate and precise fabrication methods. However, similar levels of high precision fabrication are not currently possible using the techniques now commonly used in the implementation of micro- and nano-devices and structures. Although these devices and structures can be made very small, the relative tolerances of the critical dimensions of these devices are typically very large, as compared to macroscopic machining techniques (e.g., machine shops). This leads to a lack of manufacturing precision and less capability to control device accuracy, thereby resulting in lower device performance levels. In short, the consequence of the currently used methods of fabrication for these micro- and nano-devices and structures is that the performance is often reduced over what would be possible using fabrication methods having higher precision. New precision machining technologies that enable significant increases in the performance of micro- and nano-devices and structures for specific application domains, particularly high-performance applications are therefore needed.
In addition, precise fabrication at the micro- and nano-scale level will have the effect of substantially reducing the time and effort required to develop manufacturing processes for micro- and nano-devices and structures. Currently, enormous time and effort are spent developing fabrication processes that are sufficiently “reproducible” for a given application and are insensitive to dimensional variations so that acceptable manufacturing yields can be obtained. One consequence of this lack of precision in current fabrication methods is to lengthen the time to market for most all micro- and nano-devices and structures. Currently the development time for a new device or structure typically ranges between 5 and 20 years. The long development time has the impact of driving up the development costs of devices and structures, which is undesirable for all markets, but particularly so for small volume markets. Since many of the applications for these devices and structures involve very small markets, access to this important technology base by the commercial sector is thereby constrained. More precise micromachining techniques for implementation (in both development and manufacturing) will allow micro- and nano-devices and structures to be developed more quickly and brought to market faster and at lower cost and are therefore needed.
Additionally, the yield of manufacturing processes is often highly dependent on the precision of the processes used in manufacturing. Therefore, manufacturing processes with higher levels of precision will result in higher production yields and thereby lower production costs and therefore are needed.